Architecture

B.I.O.S. Tower

Procedure: International Competition [Coding City Design Team]
Year: 2013
Location: Manhattan, New York

B.I.O.S. is the achronym for Boundary Interaction of Open Systems. Inspired to the idea of mashrabiyas, the wooden latticework able to regulate the passage of light in Arabic vernacular architecture, the envelope of the tower is based on an environmental modulation of sunlight and insulation.
The design aims to bring back the elements and materiality of historic NYC towers, while taking advantage of the most advanced technology in envelope optimization.
11 vertical ribs on the east and west facades create a play on shadow and light from the city scale and continuity with the commercial use of the building at the street level.

Oasis

Exploration is the act of searching for the purpose of discovery of information or resources.
If exploration today can be fairly considered the engine of scientific evolution, in human history it has assumed different characteristics and purposes.
During the Age of Discovery extensive overseas exploration emerged as the beginning of colonial empires, through the incorporation of new territories as dominions, colonies and protectorates.
The UK pavilion offers to visitors the experience of the exploration as starting point of a process that, rather than creating a unilateral and unbalanced relationship with the discovery, endorses a different approach based on connectivity and information sharing for the global good.

Skyscape [The Cloud]

A finalist in the Bridgescape competition, the project proposed a metallic cloud that covers the bridge, one large gesture that solved multiple problems and visually engaged passersby. The derivation of forms is the result of surface triangulation (based on a 3D Delaunay algorithm) that optimizes the quantity of material used and minimizes structure. The parametrically manipulated form of the cloud helped reshape the awkward bridge edges, provided shading, and created urban spaces with seating, plantings, artificial night lighting and art sculptures.
Transforming unused areas into public spaces for enjoyment, the overpass was also an exhibition for the people driving below.

Morphogenesis

The proposed urban expansion is the result of an overlay
of the old town structure with the morphology of the site. The deformation of the first diagrammatic layer along the morphogenetic lines of the area creates a new pattern for the residential development.
A new urban element connects the major poles of the project area (Intermodal Exchange node - Railway station - Public Plaza) defining a new system of relations and changing the way to access the city.
The integration of the built environment with green areas through alternative routes would ensure greater accessibility of the area.

Urban Trans-formations

In ancient times the site was surrounded by tall stone walls that enclosed a private phylosophical garden. After the WWII and in recent times the garden was subject to a urban development without control and appears today as an abandoned space, without any connection to the different parts of the city that surround it.
The main approach to design is to consider the layers of physical and cultural archeologies, not just the obvious context and program of the costruction.
Starting from a critic analysis of the urban pattern the project proposes three different systems of connections, obtained scaling and rotating the existing urban grid.

Palimpsest

The project proposes the re-development of an industrial area in a broader view of urban stratification. New spaces, new constructions, will interact with the sediment of demolished buildings. The traces will highlight paths, squares, green areas and height levels.
The result will be, in addition to a reading of the historical stratification, an interaction between the new spaces and the original morphology. The aim is to trigger a urban transormation in continuity with the existing.
The spaces, being permeable, fluid and flexible, will better interact and connect to the existing urban structure. The complexity of the new urban space will promote new social and functional relations, creating an heterogeneous place.

Housing

Looking at the impressive measureless
sequence of extra-large housing tipycal of the
metropolitan city suggests an idea of bigness,
as an inevitabile opportunity of a new way to
live and, consequently, to design. However the
urban reality and scale of the Italian city does
not fit this hypothesis. The small/middle scale of
the city suggests different solutions to solve the
demand of housing.
The project proposes residential and mixed use buildings with
commercial facilities at the ground floor and
residential units at the upper floors.
The proposed housing development balances
amenities for living with contextual sensitivity
and environmentally conscious design.